2020 | Power Africa Conference

Post Event Synopsis
12
Oct

2020 | Power Africa Conference

By Surya Raghu

The 2020 Virtual IEEE Power Africa Conference was held from August 25 – 28. 

IEEE Entrepreneurship organized several workshops sessions on intellectual property, bootstrapping, entrepreneurial businesses models and more as part of the IEEE Smart Village activities at the event.

The IEEE Entrepreneurship workshop featured the following talks:

A total of 106 IEEE members tuned into presentations making the IEEE Entrepreneurship Workshop the most attended event of the conference.  Discussion topics ranged from protecting intellectual property in Sub-Saharan Africa to the challenge of overcoming the costs involved.  Aspiring entrepreneurs from Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo discussed local business concepts and were keen on learning more about filing for patents in Africa, working with patent attorneys, and filing for trademarks.

 As a compliment to the Entrepreneurship workshop above, 2020 IEEE Entrepreneurship Chair  Ken Stauffer delivered a presentation titled “Entrepreneurship Ain’t Easy”, an informative deep on the fundamentals of taking an idea to market and deciding what business model decisions are necessary to develop the idea into a profitable product. Following Ken’s presentation, the ISV Happy Hour hosted by Mike Wilson was a great opportunity for all of the participants to network and discuss entrepreneurship and the numerous ISV activities taking place around the world.

IEEE Entrepreneurship extends its sincere gratitude to the IEEE Power and Energy Society, IEEE Power Africa, and IEEE Smart Village for allowing us to participate.  Be sure to check the IEEE Entrepreneurship Portal periodically for announcements concerning the IEEE Entrepreneurship Workshop at Power Africa 2021.